Editorial: Getting along with power problem [Nov. 1986--Electronic Servicing & Technology]

Not much before 100 years ago, electricity was little more than a curiosity. It was a mysterious phenomenon that had found limited success in operating streetcar motors and as a source of electric light. Its practicality to transmit power over long distances was yet to be demonstrated. Homes were still lighted for the most part by oil or gas. There were no electrical appliances. There were no electric power lines to homes.

The introduction of Edison's practical electric lamp in 1879, rapidly followed by success in building practical electrical distribution systems, started the developed nations down the road to universal, or almost universal, availability of electrical power.

In the early years, there were immensely important decisions to be made and technical obstacles to overcome. Should transmission be by ac or dc? At what voltage? Once the relative advantages of ac were clearly understood, a frequency standard had to be agreed on.

And once the decisions were made and the kinks worked out, the world where electricity was available was transformed! Night was turned into day. Homes could be illuminated with the flick of a switch. Gradually, electrical appliances were introduced: The electric washer replaced the scrub-board, the electric fan provided a cool breeze at any time. The electric stove, toaster, vacuum cleaner and much more followed.

For years, for the most part, the production, transmission and consumption of electricity went smoothly. The power companies, whether owned by investors or communities or the federal government, provided reliable power of the specified voltage and frequency so that lamps glowed, fans hummed, electric clocks kept good time and refrigerators kept food fresh and cold.

The success of the electrical utilities in providing power is attested to by our attitude toward it. When we go out on, say, a cold winter's day, we do so without a thought that the power might fail. We are confident that in our absence the power will be there to generate the heat, or operate the heating controls to keep our homes warm. There's not a second thought as to whether the refrigerator will be fed a constant supply of power to keep our food from spoiling. We expect that when we get home the clocks still will say the correct time.

But recently something's changed--dramatically. The same power that has been perfectly acceptable for nearly a hundred years is in many cases not acceptable for today's generation of consumer electronic products. Subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) problems, from memory lapse in a computer or spontaneous resetting of a clock, to near-total destruction of a product, has led investigators to determine that many of these problems are caused by irregularities in the line power delivered by the utilities.

Some people are of the opinion that the power companies have been doing them a disservice by delivering power that's not clean. Part of the problem, though, is simply that today's delicate electronics products are sharing power lines with heavy electrical equipment whose starting and stopping causes sags or surges or imposes large spikes on the line. In fact it has been shown that in many cases much of the dirt that shows up at the power outlet is generated within the same building.

For the near term at least, the only answer to the problem seems to be that owners of modern electronics equipment that's sensitive to power line disturbances must assume that there are in fact disturbances on the power line and take appropriate precautions.

Also see:

Dealing with power line problems

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